I Choose To Stay: A Black Teacher Refuses to Desert the Inner City (Hardcover)

~ Salome Thomas-El (Author), Cecil Murphey (Contributor)
Key Phrases: chess federation, bad bishops, chess team, New York, Vaux Middle School, East Stroudsburg (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Teaching is a calling, and Thomas-EL has enthusiastically answered the call. In his memoir, the educator, currently the principal of a Philadelphia elementary school, recounts the events that led him to a career in education. The author writes of experiences that would daunt many. Thomas-EL, the seventh of eight children, displayed intellectual promise early and was transferred to one of Philly's prominent magnet schools. He recounts how insecurity plagued him as he went from being at the top of his class in his old school to joining students who showed just as much intellectual prowess as he did. On top of dealing with a lack of self-confidence at this new school, Thomas-EL also felt the sting of racism for the first time. In energetic prose, he remembers the inspiration he found in teachers who connected him with internship opportunities and consistently encouraged him. Now in that very role today, Thomas-EL has instituted some innovative programming at his school, garnering such attention from administrators that he's received numerous offers for leadership positions in his own and other districts. Although the accompanying salaries have been attractive, Thomas-EL declares, "I choose to stay."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Thomas-EL grew up one of eight siblings in a single-parent household in a Philadelphia housing project. He ends up returning to that same neighborhood to teach at an elementary school with all the social ills that have driven many teachers out of inner-city schools. In this inspirational story, Thomas-EL recounts his childhood, his determination to escape the deprivations of his surroundings, and his commitment to help other disadvantaged youth. Assigned to Roberts Vaux Middle School, he worked with students with discipline problems and developed special after-school programs, in-school breakfasts, and Saturday tutoring. Part of his strategy was to revive the Mighty Bishops, the school's former championship chess club. He uses the program to instill discipline, strategic thinking, and personal ambition in the students. Thomas-EL's personal devotion to his pupils and creativity in developing programs to engage and educate them are truly inspiring. This fine account will appeal to readers interested in education and urban issues. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758201869
• ISBN-13: 978-0758201867
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #600,302 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moving Memoir!, July 3, 2003

By	Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Salome Thomas-EL's I Choose to Stay: A Black Teacher Refuses to Desert the Inner-City is a testament of selfless dedication and commitment to Philadelphia's inner-city community. He opens by recapping his childhood and ever-present internal drive to succeed despite the obstacles in his path. Born into a large family with little money and an absentee father, Mr. Thomas-EL excelled academically and stayed out of trouble as a youth. His record of accomplishment earned him respect from instructors who encouraged him to live up to his potential despite peer pressure to do otherwise. He credits his mother and teachers as having the greatest influence on his life and has made it his mission to reciprocate all the many blessings he has received.

He shares that early in his life he felt he was destined to teach and cites a few early adult experiences that seemed to confirm the inevitable. His innovative academic programs, strong rapport with students, and love of teaching led him to become an effective and influential educator and role model. Mr. Thomas-EL meticulously chronicles the resurgence and accomplishments of the Vaux Chess Team and the strategies that he used to encourage and develop the students' skills for the game and life's hard lessons. As stated in the foreword written by Arnold Schwarzenegger, there is no doubt that Salome Thomas-EL is to be commended for his tireless efforts and devotion to the children of Vaux Middle School. Written in the same vein of Joe Clark's Lean On Me, Thomas-EL's I Choose To Stay is proof that inner-city public schools can succeed and produce great students.

Although Thomas-EL's story is truly inspirational, it is the construct of the book or memoir that distracts from the story. There are some passages and concepts that are repeated and the story's flow stalled in a few areas. However, if the reader is looking for a positive, feel good, encouraging story, then this novel delivers.

Phyllis
APOOO BookClub, The Nubian Circle Book Club

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Expectations for All Children, March 15, 2003

By	Barbara (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

As a teacher, administrator and now college professor, I have always shied away from the game of chess because I felt that it was too complicated. But being a former math major with the ability to see algebraic patterns this book inspired me to take up the game.
The students from Vaux Middle School were extremely impressive and an inspiration to every educator. As a college professor, who teaches graduate students in education, I often speak of high expectations for all students. I will constantly refer to this book and the students of Vaux as the role model. When you have high expectations for all students and teach them to have the same, they will meet and exceed the standards of high academic excellence. Too often, teachers have low expectations for minority, inner city, and impoverished children. They equate poverty with the lack of the ability to do high level rigorous work.
I will utilize the lessons and stories from Mr. Thomas-EL to continue to motivate teachers in helping all students achieve. Each time the students from Vaux Middle School were challenged to use their brains they were able to extend to the next level. Teachers need to help all students rise to that challenge.
I felt so proud of the students, and I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Thomas-El on publishing this book and on his true dedication to the students of Philadelphia.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An inspirationl story that lacks teeth, September 5, 2003

By A Customer

When I heard that this book was being published, I literally counted the days until I had my hands on it. After having read the book, my feelings were so strong that I chose not to write about it until I have had a few months to get over them. I must say that I was very disappointed. I have the highest respect for Mr. El and everyone else in his profession. I have a very similar background to Mr. El - grew up in North Philly, attended public high school, went on to pursue advanced degrees at an Ivy league university, and am deeply involved in public education in Philadelphia. Therefore, with all due respect, I found it very had to swallow some of the things that I read in the book about his experiences. I saw the embelleshments of a ghost writer all over this book. The theme became redundant after some time. The first half of the book was spent telling the reader how smart Mr. El was. The second half was about how the kids could do it if someone beileves in them etc, etc, blah, blah. I've seen all this in movies.
I also feel that the book lacked depth. What about the effect of the political scene on public education? How about explaining why the PSSA scores in your schools are always so low? I want to know why a school that has such a dedicated public servant always scores in the bottom percentile year in and year out? What are your thoughts, Mr. El, on what kind of changes we have to make to the system to make public education work in Philadelphia? I understand that Mr. El can't get involved in these issues because he still has a career to think about but I was hoping to see someone step forward and expose the political hypocrisy that continues to keep our kids down. In closing, again I want to reiterate how much I respect this profession and understand what kind of dedication and personal sacrifices have to be made in order to make changes in the lives of children so thank you for that, Mr. El.